Accra, Aug. 19, GNA - Mr Joseph Baidoe-Ansah, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Diasporean Relations on Friday advised Ghanaians to be prepared to receive many visitors next year, when Ghana would be hosting various international conferences, the CAN 2008 tournament and the 50th Anniversary celebrations.

He said Ghana was in a position to receive many visitors but there was the need to ensure that hotels and other tourism related industries provided services of international standards.

Mr Baidoe-Ansah gave the advice when launching the Ghana Travel Promotion, an initiative by the Ghana Association of Travel and Tourist Agents (GATTA) in Accra.

It was aimed at encouraging people in the Diaspora to travel to Ghana to participate in the 50th independence anniversary. The Promotion is targeted at Ghanaians living abroad and friends of Ghana as well as Ghanaians and foreigners living in Ghana. It is part of the "Golden Face of Ghana" project to promote safe and responsible international and domestic tourism.

The project is in four phases - National Photographic Competition and Exhibition; Travel Ghana Raffle; Tourism Pageant and an Endowment Fund to be created at the end of the Project.

Mr Baidoe-Ansah said travel and tour operators must create the environment for repeated visits, noting that it was only when visitors were given the best services that they would desire to make repeated visits.

"It is important that we market Ghana to the world to let the whole world know that Ghana is a potential tourist destination," the Deputy Minister said.

He said irrespective of the many tourists' attraction sites in the country, marketing was an essential part of attracting visitors. Mr Godwin Pinto, President of GATTA, explaining the promotional campaign said a raffle on the theme: "Get your Golden Key to Life" would be drawn in December this year.

The first prize winner would receive a three bed-room house donated by HFC, the second prize is a Chrysler luxury saloon car donated by PHC Motors and the third prize 100 million cedis cash donated by Star Assurance Company and an insurance cover for all aspects of the programme.

Other sponsors of the promotion include Virgin Nigeria and TV3 Network as the media partners.

Mr Pinto said to enter the promotion one needed to purchase a coupon of 10,000 cedis and mentioned that the coupon could be bought as many times as possible by any person.

He said proceeds from the promotion would be used to support tourism development in the country and expressed concern about the level of tourism development in Ghana.

Mr Pinto noted that as part of the "Golden Face of Ghana" Project, some tourist sites would be enhanced for promotion and GATTA would facilitate the development and promotion of selected products for an initial period of two years to promote tourism. Mr Asare Akuffo, Managing Director of HFC Bank, observed that there was the need to put in place necessary infrastructure to develop the tourism sector profitably.

He announced a new loan scheme by HFC for hotels to enable them upgrade them to standards in pursuit of the 50th anniversary celebrations and other international conferences to be held in the country between now and 2008. 19 Aug. 06